The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) is scheduled to begin on March 28. Ahead of the start of the new season, former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has listed some of the best opening pairs in IPL history that have caught everyone’s attention.
Faf du Plessis made some surprising selections as he picked eight famous IPL opening partnerships. Although many of the veteran pairs were picked by the Proteas star, it was the order that surprised many as they were placed lower than expected.
Faf du Plessis placed Virat Kohli-Chris Gayle pair at number 3
The former RCB captain has chosen the famous pair of Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle. The two RCB stars formed one of the most dangerous opening combinations in IPL history. Together they scored over 1200 runs and formed many big partnerships including four century partnerships.
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His powerful batting often destroyed the bowling attack. However, Du Plessis has placed Kohli-Gayle pair at third place in his viral blind ranking. Interestingly, the former South African captain’s own opening partnership with Kohli was ranked at number five.
The duo had a great season together in 2023 when they scored a record 939 runs as the opening pair. This was the highest score by any opening pair in any IPL season. Overall, he added almost 1900 runs while opening the innings for RCB.
Vijay-Hussey are in fourth place
The Proteas star chose former CSK openers Murali Vijay and Michael Hussey at No. 4. He scored 1,360 runs at an average of over 41 while opening for the five-time champions.
Faf du Plessis kept his CSK partnership with Ruturaj Gaikwad at the seventh position. The pair played a vital role in CSK’s title-winning campaign in 2021. He picked another exciting modern pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who was placed at No. 6.
Faf knows a thing or two about IPL openers pic.twitter.com/6ixxQTtOJc
– ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) 16 March 2026
Their fearless batting helped SRH reach the IPL final in 2024, and they have already scored over 1100 runs as the opening pair for the franchise. But the biggest surprise came when he chose David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan at number eight.
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Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa have got the top position in Faf du Plessis’ blind ranking.
This was a surprising decision as Warner and Dhawan are the only opening pair in IPL history to score more than 2000 runs together. Faf du Plessis chose the Mumbai Indians pair of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan at number two, with Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa at the top spot.
His strong opening stand played a huge role in the success of Kolkata Knight Riders during their title-winning season. He scored 1478 runs in 39 innings in the tournament.
Notably, he will miss the upcoming season as he is set to play in the Pakistan Super League 2026 (PSL 2026). He is one of the highest overseas run-scorers in IPL history with 4,773 runs in 154 matches.